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Healthy Schools Wales 
For information about healthy lifestyle consulting a dragon might not seem too wise. But Cledwyn the Dragon has the information at his fingertips — or should that be claws!
You can visit Cledwyn and his castle on the Welsh schools website, www.healtheschool.com. Aimed at nursery-age children, the cartoon character has lots of Welsh fun and games as well as stories to tell you. Teachers and nursery staff can find guidance in the Nursery Leaders Handbook (PDF file, 2.0MB).
Information about the Welsh Assembly Government's health-promotion work in schools can be found in www.healtheschool.org.uk, a website aimed at school children, teachers, parents and governors and containing nutrition-related facts, information and resources.
Healtheschool has sections aimed at pre-school, primary and secondary pupils as well as teachers, parents and governors. This section provides links to health-promotion information and guidance that parents and school governors may find useful.
Information is provided on the following topics:
- Nutrition
- Smoking
- Sexual health
- Exercise
- Safety
- Substance misuse.
The Young People in Wales: findings from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study 1986-2000 contains many sections that will be of interest to parents and governors, including chapters on the school environment, smoking, alcohol, children’s use of illicit drugs, eating patterns and physical activity.
Following Welsh involvement in the European Network of Health Promoting Schools (ENHPS), Better Health Better Wales signalled the need to develop a Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes (WNHSS). WNHSS encourages the development of local healthy school schemes within a common national framework. These in turn encourage the development of health-promoting schools in their area.
The WNHSS establishes model schools that demonstrate the impact of health promotion in the school setting and then share their experience. Parents and school governors have an important role to play in developing good health-promotion practices in schools.
The WNHSS provides guidance on possible school activities as well as ideas and suggestions for schools, which can be used as part of their health-promotion work.
For example, Developing a Whole School Food and Physical Activity Policy has been developed to guide and support schools. Aimed at headteachers, healthy-school co-ordinators and school governors, the guide is valuable to schools considering food and fitness activities as part of the Welsh Network of Healthy Schools Schemes. Local healthy-school scheme co-ordinators will guide schools through this process.
Schools can also monitor and evaluate their work on food and nutrition using the Food in School Assessment Tool.
The Welsh Assembly Government has published an action plan in response to the issues raised by the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study 1986–2000. This is available on the Chief Medical Officer Wales' website.
The SuperschoolsWales website is another valuable resource that supports Healthy Schools. The site encourages children to take regular exercise and enjoy sport by explaining how schools can raise funds to improve sports facilities.
SuperschoolsWales will arrange for an international sporting celebrity to visit your school for half a day to encourage and motivate the children, at no cost.
Olympic medalists Dame Kelly Holmes, Jamie Baulch, Sharon Davies and a host of other sporting superstars have taken part and invite your school to join the thousands of others benefiting from the Superschools experience.
Many Superschools events are initiated by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and similar support groups concerned with generating funds. Before the event, SuperschoolsWales will arrange a preliminary visit ahead of the event. During this visit an introductory talk will be given to the children and staff at a specially timed assembly to inform and motivate pupils so that maximum participation is achieved.
All pupils will be photographed individually with their guest star, have autograph opportunities and take part in an elementary fitness exercise circuit for which they will obtain sponsors. Each event will conclude with a question-and-answer session or a demonstration of the skills for which the celebrity is famed.
Health promotion in schools should be holistic. It should be integrated with all aspects of school life not just the taught curriculum.
Health-promoting schools actively promote and protect the physical, mental, social health and well-being of their community through policy, strategic planning and staff development in relation to the school curriculum, ethos, physical environment and community relations.
In Carmarthenshire, for example, the local public health team forms part of the National Public Health Service for Wales and is responsible for developing local work programmes and actions to improve the health and well-being of the Carmarthenshire population and reduce inequalities.
The team is responsible for developing local strategies and policies, developing and delivering training and undertaking a wide range of health-promotion initiatives as well as raising awareness of current health messages in the community.
The team works with a variety of organisations such as the LHB, NHS Trust, the local authority and voluntary and community sectors and across a range of settings such as schools, community and primary care, covering the age continuum from children through to older people.
Carmarthenshire school meals nutrition strategy is aimed at improving the nutritional content of school meals and is being adopted in all primary schools and secondary schools. It links to the School Meals Nutrition Strategy.
Food and Nutrition Learning in the Curriculum provides guidance on curriculum content and has been disseminated to all schools.
Milk bars in secondary schools, healthy vending, water coolers, fruit tuck shops and breakfast clubs are also being rolled out in all schools. And a healthy-eating policy has been developed and implemented for all out-of-schools clubs. Nutrition in childcare settings provides guidance on snacks and meal provision in pre-school settings under development.
Websites
For more information about the Welsh Assembly Government's health-promotion work in schools, visit www.healtheschool.org.uk.
For more information about the Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes (WNHSS) on the Chief Medical Officer Wales' website, visit www.cmo.wales.gov.uk.
For more information about sponsoring and funding school sports, visit www.superschoolswales.com.
Some useful websites
National Healthy Schools Programme
www.healthyschools.gov.uk
Curriculum issues including drugs and sex education
www.teachernet.gov.uk
Information on food in schools
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk and www.foodinschools.org
Curriculum-based education around healthy eating
www.foodafactoflife.org.uk |
